At the hospital...

Because Grant was born just after midnight, we were able to stay in the hospital a few hours longer than usual. Grant and I stayed until Saturday morning. I was really looking forward to being in a quiet hospital room with a sleeping baby, but I forgot about the masses of people equivalent to a clown car that continuously made there way into the room to poke, prod or question. One morning, beginning at six am I had 13 people come in before eleven. (Nurses, aids, my doctor, the baby's doctor, a photographer, the nutritionist, breakfast, housekeeping, etc...) I sent Grant to the nursery both nights so that I could get some rest, however, I didn't bet on the baby in the next room over crying for hours in the middle of the night. I felt so sorry for the mom. I'm sure would have liked to be resting.

Anyway, all in all it was a restful time. I did forget about all of the pain and yuckiness that accompanies the first week after giving birth. So, I was glad to be where they could answer my questions and give me lovely pain medication.

On Thursday afternoon, Jimmy was going to bring the boys to see me. Because of the Swine Flu scare, they asked about the potential visitors. When I told them that Luke had a fever the previous weekend and had a rash that the doctors suspected was from the virus, they STRONGLY encouraged me not to bring him. I knew he didn't have the Swine Flu, but one of the sweet sisters in our ward who is so kind to look after me and check in on me watched Luke so that Jackson could come and meet his new baby brother.




As you can tell, he was super excited and proud.

When the pediatrician came, I talked to her about letting Luke visit the next day. She said that it was perfectly fine and that there was little to no risk of him getting ill or him passing on anything after being symptom free for almost a week. So, Friday Luke came to meet his baby. In all honesty, he was much more impressed with the adjustable hospital bed (until he figured out how to call the nurses station) and the window that overlooked the parking lot and lake.





But we did make introductions and he immediately said "bebe" and wanted to kiss him a million times while making a darling little "mmmmaa" sound.





Jimmy did such a wonderful job taking care of the boys while I was gone. I was really impressed. Now I know that the children will actually survive if I'm not around all the time. ;0)

In between resting and the visits from the boys, a photographer came by to take pictures. She was so good! It took her only a few minutes to get some beautiful shots. She even managed to take a couple of me with Grant that I thought turned out very nice considering I had just given birth, was puffy and swollen and had no make up on. I thought it was so cool to be able to send people to the website to see pictures right away. (You can view the pictures HERE, however they are the same ones that I posted in my original Baby Grant post.) I was able to access the Internet through the TV, which was nice as well.

One of the most curious things for me had to do with the nurses. They were so wonderful and really took good care of me. And the curious thing was that several of their names were names from women in my father's family. Susan, Ann and Geri, specifically. Susan and Ann are my father's sisters and Geri is one of my Great Grandmothers who passed away years ago. We share our birthday and she always called me "Princess D". These were the nurses who really spent time with me and seemed to really care. They really went over and above what they needed to do. Geri was the one that I had the greatest bond with. She reminded me so much of my Great Grandmother. She had red hair and told everyone that came into my room that they needed to take good care of me because I was special. She also brought some of her paperwork into my room to be Grant's first babysitter while I took a shower. They made an impression on me that will make me think seriously about becoming a nurse in my post-stay-at-home days. The names could have been a coincidence, but I really felt like Aunt Ann and Grandma Geri were looking down on me. (And, like Sue was checking in on me from VA, too.)

Grant choked and stopped breathing twice in the hospital. It was terrifying, but the same thing happened with Luke. I knew to pull the emergency button to the nurses who were able to revive him. And, the night before I left to go home Geri suggested that they suction his stomach to get rid of the mucus that was causing him to choke. I was nervous for him to have the procedure done. In the end, I was so grateful that she suggested it, because we have had no problems since.

And so you see, this is how I spent the two days after I had Baby Grant. (If you ever happen to be in Michigan while in labor, go right on over to William Beaumont Hospital in Troy. You are sure to have a good experience. :0)